The National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung is to reopen on Friday after almost three years, with the reopening timed to coincide with International Museum Day on Thursday.
The museum was closed to renovate its interior, including its exhibition spaces, museum director Wang Chang-hua (王長華) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Over the past three decades, archeologists have unearthed historically significant artifacts in Taiwan that indicate Austronesian settlers arrived in Taiwan by sea as early as 30,000 years ago, Wang said.
Photo: Ling Mei-hsueh, Taipei Times
With exhibits ranging from stone tools to contemporary pieces, the museum hopes to tell the history of Taiwan from the Paleolithic age about 3 million years ago to the 21st century, she said.
Some contemporary items include a Taiwan jersey worn by Wei Chuan Dragons baseball player Ngayaw Ake, an Amis, at the 2015 WSBC Premier 12 tournament and a Golden Melody Award that Amis singer Suming lent to the museum after his Song of the Year win in 2016 for Aka Pisawad, she said.
Hopefully, museum visitors would gain a greater appreciation for the contributions of indigenous people to the sports and entertainment industries, Wang said.
Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) said that the reopening slogan, “Here, Taiwan meets the world,” not only applies to Taiwan’s interactions with the international community, but more importantly to the interactions that started thousands of years ago.
Taiwan is fortunate to have a unique culture that is intertwined with Chinese and Austronesian cultures, Shih said.
Taiwanese should not only care about the present, but also learn about the nation’s past, Shih said, adding that to do so is culturally respectful.
Hopefully, all 23 million of Taiwan’s residents would visit the museum, he said.
Palauan Ambassador to Taiwan David Adams Orrukem passed on Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr’s gratitude for inviting Palau to be part of the “very important” occasion.
“For us, being islanders, I know that some Palauans came from Taiwan,” Orrukem said. “So there’s some similarity when you go around the museum. And it made me so proud and so happy to be part of the museum.”
The ambassador gifted the museum an ebakl, a woodworking adze that is a patriarchal symbol in Palauan families, and a toluk, a ceremonial object made of hawksbill sea turtle shells exchanged between Palaun women to mark significant moments in their lives.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as